ANDY MURRAY: Can He Beat Rafael Nadal? (Wimbledon 2011)

Andy Murray, the fan favorite at Wimbledon, faces Rafael Nadal, not only the best player in the game at the moment but one of the all time greats in tennis history, in what could be a semi-final classic.

Expect an intense match, with heavily favored Nadal having to deal with an energized Wimbledon crowd. Murray will need to be at his best to beat Nadal, who will be at 100 percent after a minor foot injury.

Nadal has beaten Murray 11 out of 15 times, and has not slowed down since the French Open. This will be a rematch of last year's Semi-Final where Nadal won in straight sets.

Here are some keys for the underdog to beat Nadal on Friday:

First-serve percentage. Murray should avoid going for aces and slow down his 130 mile-per-hour serve, and instead concentrate on minimizing the amount of second serves to prevent Nadal from breaking his serve. Mardy Fish's first serve percentage was 53 percent, and didn't give the Nadal the same fight that Juan Martin del Potro did in the Fourth Round, who had a 70 first-serve percentage.

Service return. Perhaps the best return of serve in tennis belongs to Murray. Though Nadal's serve is very good, Murray is capable of containing it. However, Murray will need it to be at its best, he must show patience to prevent Nadal winners. Murray broke Nadal on one-of-three opportunities in the 2010 match, and he is capable of doing better than that.

Play to the crowd. It's obviously hard to rattle Nadal, but Murray will have to make sure the crowd supports him. Murray is going to have to dig deep and play nearly perfect tennis to beat Nadal, and perhaps the crowd can inspire him.

Luck. Murray, you're going to need it. Should Nadal not get his first serve in, Murray can win the match with his serve return. But Nadal was at 68 percent and 73 percent in his last two matches, respectively, and beat Murray last year at 70 percent. Nadal didn't have 20 unforced errors in either of his last two matches, and Murray will need Nadal to make mistakes.

The odds are stacked against Murray, but the odds were also stacked against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga when he faced Roger Federer, perhaps the greatest player in Wimbledon history.

Murray will have to dig deep and play the best match of his life on Friday.